Cryptocurrency News Round-Up: MtGox Woes Continue as New York Pushes for Bitcoin Law

Further setbacks for MtGox saw its bitcoin valuation to fall below $100 (£60) for the first time in seven months, as a knock on effect sees most cryptocurrencies lose value.

Although not as bad as the heavy losses at MtGox, bitcoin's value fell 5.9% to $572 over the last 24 hours according to data from CoinMarketCap; the currency was priced at $575 on the BitStamp exchange at the time of publication.

Litecoin also suffered a noticeable decline, down 8.18% to $14.04 per coin, while dogecoin fell 7.35% to $0.0012.

The biggest winner of the last 24 hours was gridcoin, which saw growth of 122% to $0.047, although volatility will be expected, as the currency only entered the market a day earlier.

Pandacoin suffered the largest loss, down almost 76% to $0.000081 per coin, followed by globalcoin, which fell 40% to $0.0052.

MtGox withdrawal delays continue amid office move and falling value

Confirming news first reported by protester Kolin Burges, Mt Gox has relocated to another office in Tokyo. However, following a statement explaining the company's situation, Burges tweeted to say he believes most MtGox staff have remained in place and "only a very small few people have actually moved."

This group is believed to include MtGox CEO Mark Karpeles, who has refused to answer repeated questions from Burges about the exchange's financial health.

Burges, who has stood outside MtGox's office building daily for a week, said the situation was "calm" but he doesn't yet know if his 250 bitcoins (£85,500) will be returned.

MtGox said a halt on customers being able to withdraw their bitcoins will continue for longer than first thought, although no estimation was given on when the service will be restored. The exchange's problems led Blockchain chief security officer Andreas Antonopoulos to label MtGox as "clownish" and "incompetent" during the Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast.

New York to develop cryptocurrency legal framework this year

Ben Lawsky, superintendent of financial services for the state of New York, conducted a Reddit AMA (ask me anything), where he said the state expects to propose regulations for bitcoin use later this year.

"Our expectation is that - during the course of 2014 - the information we've gathered on our fact-finding effort will allow us to put forward a proposed regulatory framework for virtual currency firms operating in New York," Lawsky said.

Despite recognising that cryptocurrency law "is complicated stuff and we don't want to go too fast, make a mistake," Lawsky said he wants "to move expeditiously because the sooner we provide some regulatory certainty, the better for the firms that want to know what the rules of the road are."

London bitcoin ATM on its way

Las Vegas-based bitcoin ATM manufacturer Robocoin said a machine "has already been purchased [by a company in London] and the wheels are in motion," in a statement to the Telegraph.

Speaking to IBTimes UK last week, London-based Global Bitcoin ATM said the machine was being updated before shipping.

"We are waiting [for] word from the manufacturer as the machine is going through compliance and some updates before shipping. Should have more information in the next few days," the company said on 13 February.